Samplers

~Well done is better than well said~

[Benjamin Franklin]

Happy Monday everyone!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Mine was spent freshening up 

our humble abode for Spring.

More to come on what I did later on.

Today I reveal a new sampler I finished.

My love of Samplers came as a teen

when gramma B took me to the five and dime...

A five & dime was like the dollar store today.

Any hoot, gramma B bought me a cross stitch kit

of a sampler which was stamped in blue ink.

It took me most of the Summer to stitch that piece,

but it began my love of them.

This early sampler I have hanging in our living room.
It was a birthday present from Bob one year.
I know it is early because of the fabric,
but unfortunately the year was damaged...
so I do not know the year it was made.

I purchased this one at an auction
many moons ago.
I still love it even though it is only 70 years old!

This one I made for myself in the 1980's.

Since I love bunnies..

this is still a favorite of mine as well.

A new one I just finished.
I purchased the pattern from
Notforgotten Farm
last year... and finally finished it.

Framed in a farmhouse look frame.

Hung it up in our back room.

Later I will reveal my Spring flowers

that I added in my crock underneath.

This is why I hung it higher up...

as I like to add flowers for the seasons.

I am also finished with my Peepers rug,

and will show off later on.

Drawing out a new one for the Fourth of July.

Also working on my Soldier fellow.

After all I do like to start my

July 4th decor in May.

Yes I am weird as my family says!

Do you like to decorate for the Seasons?

I get it from my mom.

She does it too!

Just on a smaller scale than I do.

Sampler Blessings To All!

Janice

A Tisket

A
 TASKET

I would like to show you my new

BASKET

Bob says I am a basket case alright. LOL
I am sort of obsessed with them.
I really am.

Hello
My name is Janice
I am a basket addict....
especially when it comes to splint ones;
and this is my latest one.
I purchased this from Ruth.
Thanks Ruth...I love it!

The handles make it even more special.

I decided to place it on its side inside one of my
other addictions....boxes.
Oh heck, my whole house is an addiction. 
A wonderful prim addiction!

Inside I added one of my
black dollies.
This one was purchased from my friend Dawn
at Holly Hills Primitives.
Next to her is a doll I made from a 
Black Cat Primitives pattern.
I cannot remember whom I purchased
 the bunny pillow from.
{if it looks familiar to anyone, please let me know}

This little display is on our drysink.
Notice the wire rack with the lye soap.
I bought this from a dealer who is from Pennsylvania.
So again if this looks familiar to anyone, 
please let me know.

The little area to the left is where the kitties 
like to look out the window.
I have to give them some space. :-)

Speaking of kitties...
So the other day we had a mouse in the house.
Usually in the Fall we have one come in,
so it was quite unusual to have one this time of year.
In the middle of the night I hear Shadow growling.
I get out of bed to investigate.
Shadow was in the kitchen 
trying his best to get that mouse.
Finally that mouse decided to make a run for it.
It ran out of the cupboard and ran towards me.
Now I am not afraid of mice...but it did startle me.
I jumped and Shadow jumped.
Then instead of the mouse running away,
he stands on his two hind feet, with ears wide out
to the side of his body. He was moving his front
feet like a boxer ready to fight
while making the weirdest noise.
Shadow did not know what to do. 
He looked at me as if to ask me
"Mom what do I do now?"
However as soon as he turned to look at me, 
that mouse ran into the living room.
Not sure what happened to him...
but hopefully he left the same way he came in.

That mouse sure did remind me of 
the Tom and Jerry cartoon...
when Jerry would stand on his hind legs
and try to fight Tom. LOL

I hope I did not bore you with my short story...
but afterwards it did remind me of that cartoon.

Well off to work...and hopefully no more mice
until the Fall.

Basket Friend Blessings To All!
Janice

The Candy Jar

Is Now

O P E N

Bob painted the logo on our window

that I designed.

He did a good job painting it...

even though the word "the"

is not quite in the middle.

He also did not do the letter "A" as I had drawn it...

but all in all he did a good job 

for not being a professional.

I am not a painter myself.

I can draw, but hate painting. LOL

We have all kinds of old fashioned candies.

I asked Bob to make this ribbon spool.
It makes it easier for me to bag up candy.
We bag up 1/4 lb ones using the pretty curling ribbon,
while the full lb goes into a paper bag.

Full of nostalgic candy in the jars
and new/ old candy bars on the shelves.

We even have a Good Humor ice cream cooler.
Filled with lots of yummy ice cream...
Choco Tacos, ice cream bars, sundaes, etc.

Some cotton candy and assorted snacks.
Goldfish, mini chocolate chip cookies,
mini Nabisco cheese crackers and others.
The bag candy to the right of the snacks.

Stick candy and swirly pop suckers.
Did you see any favorites you would like?

We also have our pretty vintage glass candy jars.
You buy the jar, 
we fill it with our jar candy for free.
A great Mother's Day gift.
We have already sold a few of these.

Our Grand Opening will be in a few weeks.
We will have face painting for the kiddos.
A coloring contest for them as well.
Plus discounts on the candy that day.
Fun will be had by all!

Thank you ~Thank you ~ Thank you
for your sweet comments on my rug.

I took the day off today to visit with my cousin.
She is coming into town for work and wants
to see our store.
I also have to get my oil change in my car.
So a busy day on tap today again.

It also might reach 70 degrees today.
Thank you Mother Nature
for finally listening to us over here.

The Candy Jar Blessings To All!
Janice

Kitty Rug Progress

Sleet and snow once again
the other day.
I am afraid to look out the window
to see what today brings.
It's getting old Mother Nature.
Really it is.

Bob and I have been working most nights
at the store bagging candy,
working on the logo for the window,
and planning for our grand opening.
I will take pics and show you soon.

Today I wanted to show you the progress 
I have made on my kitty rug.

First I recently purchased 
this hook and punch frame
from Lori over at
Notforgotten Farm.
I love it Lori!

It beats using a hoop now.
I just lay the linen over the frame and hook away.

Decided to add a bit of green into this design.
Well its more like a dark turquoise.

Even though I added another row 

to my kitty's face below his nose...

I still was not happy with it.

So I ripped out another couple of rows of the tan,

and re-hooked it in gray to round out his face more.

I think it looks better now.

Maureen I took your advise and defined his paws.

I used a gray green color and cut my worms smaller.

Remember I do hand cut my wool strips.

Cathy I also started working the background.

Bob chose the background color and he did a great job!

It is a black wool with tiny flecks of red and blue.

It is going to look good once I add more of it.

I still am not definite on what to do 

with the middle diamond.

I drew the flower...

and I still like it...just not sure what color to make it in.

Suggestions???

Bob and I have a wedding to attend on Saturday,

so I will not be able to work

 more on this rug until Sunday.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Hopefully Spring will come soon.

What are your plans for the weekend? 

Rug Progress Blessings To All!

Janice

April CupboardScape

Spring is still not here yet in Michigan.
Is it Global warming?
All I know is it was freezing rain again
when I got home last night...
and now more snow outside this morning.
Y U C K

It will probably turn to Summer before Spring begins.

This month's CupboardScape I feature 
a few of my boxes.
I so love the graphics of these beauties,
although they were only used for
 their company's logo at the time.

I purchased this star box at the Holly show.
The one below I purchased well over 15 years ago.
I still love it!

This Ben Franklin sugar box is a recent purchase.
One of our vendors in our store had this one for sale.
Had to buy it.

Of course I had to bring back my chocolate box

for this CupboardScape.

This gloss box holds my DMC floss....

so I know right where to look for it.

The egg crate is also made from wood and while

not exactly a box, I consider it one.

The wood box to the right could be used for long

clay pipes, but I like to use it for flowers and other stuff.

I also have a massive coffee box that is used

to hold our Christmas tree.

The rest of the year it resides on top of our cabinet.

I just love wood boxes!

If you noticed I placed one of my breadboards

in between these bottom boxes.

Unfortunately I do not have any more room 
for any other large ones...
but there might be room for a few more small ones.
{A BIG SMILE}

Hope everyone has a great day!
I am off to trudge through the snow once again.

Oh yeah before I forget,
when I took Ace to the vet...

Dr Robyn says he is getting chubby.
18 1/2 pounds he weighs.
Bob now calls him our
FAT BOY.
So now we chase him around the house.
Hopefully he will lose weight this way.
I really do not want to give him less food...
then both he and Shadow will both be mad at me.

Tuesday Blessings To All!
Janice 

Wee Spring Display

Thursday it was in the mid 70's.
The kitties were outside enjoying their catio.
Friday rain and mid 40's, so back inside. 
Freezing rain is what we woke up to today.
Not a Spring day out this morning
for featuring my wee Spring display.
Mother Nature if you are reading this,
may you let Spring stay.

Getting back to the display.
All you need is a baby shoe, a bit of moss
 and small bunch of flowers.
Mini Iris, Grape Hyacinth,
 Crocus to name a few.
I chose mini daffodils.

Add the flowers inside the shoe.
Then push the moss in just a wee bit.
The moss will hold the flower in,
so no need for sytrofoam with this display.

Of course I decided to make three for myself.
{I also changed the first shoe I did to a Narcissus,
while the other two are now Daffys}

An easy cute wee Spring display!

Time to go do some grocery shopping.
Then I have to take Ace in for a checkup and shots.
He is not going to like me.
Will have to drive slow with the bad weather.

Once I get back home,
homemade chicken noodle soup
 with grilled cheese sandwiches will be
our dinner tonight.

Hopefully I will be able to hook 
more of my kitty rug too.
Thank you all for your kind words 
of encouragement and suggestions.
You all are the best!

What's on your agenda for this Saturday?

Wee Display Blessings To All!
Janice

Kitty Rug

SNOW
RAIN
WIND
SNOW
RAIN
Is it Spring or Winter?

This is my drawing for the rug I started.

Kitty in the middle,

with diamonds on each side.

I picked diamonds because Peeps was 

a gem of a kitty in life.

I realized though that I made the eyes and nose too
high up on the head...so that was changed.

Then I drew this paper flower.
So I might incorporate this into the middle diamond
on each side.
Not sure on what to do with the other diamonds.
Any suggestions?

So here is the kitty almost all hooked.
Looking at these pics, I was not happy
with his face.
So I ripped out some of his chest that 
was tan and re-hooked it in gray 
to make his head bigger.

It looks better, but maybe I should rip out one more row.
Although it may look better 
when I add his whiskers. 
Thoughts here?

Now I am not sure if I should go in the ditch
and add some definition to his paws.
What do you think?
I am being very critical of this rug.
Maybe I am overthinking it...but am not
100% happy with it at the moment.

I already added some white around his eyes.

At least the eyes look like Peeps now. 
A big difference it made. 

Your ideas here would be very helpful.

Hope everyone is enjoying their week.

Kitty Blessings To All!
Janice